Stargazing
by Ellie101
Summary: FINISHED Ginny has been looking to the heavens for answers... She's about to get one. Fluffy short story... Please R


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Stargazing

By Ellie

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Pairing: A Harry and Ginny Moment

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Rating: PG

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Disclaimer: These characters are borrowed from J.K. Rowling, who puts them to much better use let me assure you.

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A/N) Go easy on me, this was written from about 2 am to 5:30 am, and I couldn't seem to stop for the life of me. I believe that this entire story was made simply because I'm so impatient for the 5th book to come out- or maybe it's just my muse dangling some ideas in my face when I should be sleeping… either way I hope you like my second ever HP fanfic….. PLEASE REVIEW if you like it!!!!!!!

~Ellie

*Stargazing*

She wasn't sure exactly when it had begun. But somewhere along the course of her life Ginny had started looking to the stars for answers. Whenever she had something on her mind she would go to a window, look up at the sky, and send her thoughts out into the void. Upon reflecting, she had realized that her stargazing could be seen as a sort of prayer. She was communicating to a higher power and waiting for some sign that she had been heard. Most of the time, on those lonely nights where she would look at the stars she wouldn't expect any answer. But sometimes she would wait patiently for any sign at all that she had been heard. Those nights usually ended in disappointment, but she never stopped sending her problems or questions to the sky. Because she never stopped hoping that one night she would get an answer. And finally, after years of conversing to the night sky, Ginny was given an answer to a question that had been plaguing her for years.

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"Don't stay out too late tonight dear!" The Gryffindor portrait warned.

Ginny smiled reassuringly at the Pink Lady before answering softly, "I won't." 

It had become her habit to sneak out past bedtime and go up to one of the towers during the night. She found it ironic that she was chided by all of her 5th year friends mercilessly for her sterling character and reluctance to breaking rules when she broke one almost every night. 

What her year-mates couldn't understand was that Ginny wasn't truly reluctant to break rules…she just refused to break one over something stupid. 

When Colin Creevy goaded her to go and get some pudding from the kitchen and then leave it next to Ron's face while he was sleeping, he was surprised to see Ginny get right up and head over to the kitchen. However, when she returned eating the pudding and refused to play the prank of Ron, Colin was dumbfounded. When he questioned her incredulously her only reply was that she had felt a bit hungry and pudding had sounded appealing. 

Colin had chalked it up to Ginny being chicken. Ginny, however, had her own reasons for refusing to partake in the prank. What goal was there in sneaking up and smearing Ron's face with pudding? As far as she could see, there was absolutely no point to it, therefore she saw it as a waste of time.

Feeling slightly irritated with her friends for being so immature, Ginny missed her usual staircase up to the Observation Tower. Once upon a time it had been used to teach an impromptu astrology class, but over the years it had been replaced by a tower on the other end of Hogwarts and was generally deserted. 

Ginny was irritated with herself after she realized that she was walking in an unknown corridor. The lanterns were turned on low since there weren't supposed to be people walking through the halls after bedtime, and Ginny felt uncomfortable walking passed sleeping portraits and dark doorways. She had always been safe up in her Observation Tower- even Peeves had found it too dull a place to linger in. But here, in this darkened hall, Ginny was worried about what she might come across. 

Making a snap decision, she decided to pick a room facing Hogwarts' extensive grounds rather then going back to her tower. It was getting late, and her unnecessary wanderings had made it impossible for her to go all the way back the way she had come AND climb the 72 stairs up to her tower. She would have to find another room to take solace in.

Ginny paused at one door that she had originally planned on passing. Something about it seemed to draw her to rest her fingertips lightly on the doorknob. It wasn't a normal classroom so Ginny assumed that it was probably just another of the unused rooms strewn among the castle. If she was wrong and it was a private wing, or one of the trap doors one could also find inside Hogwarts, then she was about to get in a heap of trouble. _'When in doubt, walk carefully, breathe normally, and be ready to use your wand.'_

Ginny grinned as she thought of the mischievous glint that had been in Bill's eye when he had first announced his sure-fire way to survive in curse-ridden pyramids. Mrs. Weasley had merely clucked her tongue and patted Bill's hair wistfully before he pulled it out of her grasp, but Ginny had decided that it was sound advice and had since put it to use on numerous occasions.

Carefully, she edged up to the smooth wood grains of the door and held up her wand. Now she planned on using a technique that Charlie had inadvertently bestowed her with… Several Christmas Eve's ago, when everyone in her large family had long since been tucked in bed, Ginny had wandered into the living room to sit snugly inside a cocoon of warm blankets nestled in the window seat. She had been so intent in looking at the stars that it had taken her several moments to realize that someone else had come into the living room. It had been Charlie and Bill stealthily sneaking over to the Christmas tree. Ginny watched them silently, amused at the sight of her older brothers looking so gleefully at the colorful gifts piled underneath the festive pine.

Bill was attempting to shake a particularly long box when Charlie had nudged him and whispered, "You're going to wake the whole house you twit! Look, just take out your wand and say this… "_Regardedim_" and tap whatever you want to look through 4 times. It won't be able to show you too much, it's not a powerful enough spell… but it'll give you a pretty good outline of anything that's not spelled to be invisible."

Ginny had been utterly fascinated. So THAT was how Charlie always seemed to know what he'd gotten ahead of time! After hearing furious tapping, Ginny heard Bill moan, "Not another sweater! And it's probably yellow too…I HATE yellow!" She had to grin at his tone; Christmas wouldn't be Christmas if Ron and Bill didn't complain about the color of their sweaters. 

Tapping softly on the door Ginny muttered "_Regardedim_". The place where she tapped spread outwards until the entire door was a hazy glimmer. She could make out the outlines of what were obviously chairs, but they were stacked together in one corner. It was fairly dark and therefore was hard to figure out the rest of what she was looking at, but as far as she could tell it was an abandoned room. The other thing that caught her eye was an enormous square of muted light that was coming from the far side of the room- a window. Perfect.

Rustling footsteps were coming from the far end of the hall, a quickly and quietly as she could manage, Ginny pushed open the door and slipped inside.

The window provided several weak beams of moonlight to guide her through the empty, yet eerily dust-free room. Looking around frantically for someplace to conceal herself, she noticed a small nook situated to the side of the window, far enough in the shadows to be overlooked, but still close enough so she could see through the glass. 

Suddenly, she heard a creak coming from the hallway and then the distinctive lurching of Filch's feet. _BUGGER! _Moving quickly, Ginny wedged herself through a couple of shabby armchairs and into her nook. She was very aware of how uncomfortable it was, but she knew better than to move until the danger had passed. She wasn't safe yet.

The door creaked open, and Ginny practically held her breath. She knew better than to do that though, whenever anyone held their breath for long enough they always made a gasping sound when they couldn't hold it anymore… and of course it's THEN that they're heard. She instead concentrated on breathing softly and being as still as possible. She was surprised when the door shut softly and she continued to hear the furious pounding of footsteps continuing down the hall. She had assumed Filch had been the one to open the door, but apparently he was still pursuing someone else.

When the angry footfalls had died away, Ginny carefully spelled the tiny pillow she always brought in her pocket during her late-night stargazing to become big enough to cushion her from the hard floor. She almost screamed when she heard a sighing sound coming from somewhere near the door…Somewhere INSIDE of the room.

A sound like silk fluttering against a breeze was clear and then a cloak was visibly hefted off of a dark form. Ginny's heart was thudding with panic. _Was it a death-eater? Tom?!_

The figure stepped up to the window, and suddenly Ginny's heart was pounding for another reason… It was Harry standing there; holding his cloak limply in his hand. 

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Definitely not Voldemort…

He was staring out of the window with a pensive look on his face. Unexpectedly, he looked over in her direction. She couldn't see his intelligent green eyes, but she could imagine them scanning the shadows, maybe even lingering on her. Even knowing that he couldn't possibly see her didn't prevent the sudden blush that bloomed on her cheeks. She couldn't help it, as a redhead, any blushing that she did was bound to be obvious- it was how she was made. He made a movement as if to reach for her and murmured something inaudible from her position. Ginny almost stretched her own hand forward to touch his. Luckily for her she didn't- all he did was grasp an armchair and carefully tug it over to the window. She didn't hear any telltale dragging sounds, so she assumed that he had muttered a spell to mask the noise of his hefty burden.

In his new position by the window, Ginny could see his profile clearly. His green eyes looked black in the dim light of the moon, but Ginny had looked into his eyes time after time, and she knew their true color. Currently, those eyes were looking searchingly into the night sky; reminiscent of all of the times she herself had spent looking up at the stars. She followed his gaze out of the window, and began her own soul-searching.

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It's me again. I came up here to tell you about someone who's very special to me- I know you've heard plenty about him already, but I wanted to tell you some more. The funny thing is, he's actually sitting right in front of me…I don't know if it's your doing or not, but either way it was definitely a pleasant surprise. I wonder if he's talking to you too… 

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Well, I originally came up her to tell you about Harry. But I've changed my mind-I don't want to tell you about him anymore- I want to ask you a question. Why can't he see me? REALLY see me…Not as Ron's little sister, or the poor little girl with a crush on him. I'm so much more than that. All I want to do is help him, talk to him. 

You may not believe this but I never fell for him because he was "'Famous' Harry Potter". Sure I was curious about him and maybe I developed a little crush- who wouldn't? He's a hero. But I didn't TRULY fall for him until I started Hogwarts. I noticed all of these things about him… His sad little smile whenever someone's talking about their parents, the way he pushes his glasses up onto his nose when he's nervous, even the way he talks about his life with the Dursleys…as if it's a pain but nothing too terrible. He's such a wonderful person…yet I'm even more drawn to the pain that I catch glimpses of. He's so brave, he tries to hide it, but I see it even if Ron is too dense. I know Hermione knows, because there are times when she'll look at him and then look away with a tiny hint of tears in her eyes. She knows the same thing that I do: Unless Harry let's someone in to help him with his pain he'll never accept help willingly. So she's waited, just as I've waited…and I take it back about Ron- I think he's waiting too.

I just wish he'd let me in. I wish he could see that all I want to do is help him…even if he never feels for me the way that I do about him. He's been through such pain- he deserves some comfort. I know it's selfish of me to want to be the one he confides in…so all that I ask is that you help him. I don't care how. But please help him.

She never asked for a sign, never even tore her eyes away from the brilliant stars shining through the darkness of the sky.

"Ginny?" Harry's voice was husky, with an odd undertone.

Ginny turned to look at him automatically.

"Ginny, is that you?" He said softly.

"Yes." She replied meekly. Ginny felt like she was about to die. What would he think of her sitting in the shadows and seemingly watching him for what felt like hours? She was so distracted by her embarrassment that it took her a while to notice what that strange undertone had been. Harry had been crying. There were tear tracks on his cheeks, visible by a sudden increase of light… The moon was showing brighter now than it had all night. It was a sign, and Ginny clasped it to her heart like a ray of guiding light. 

She stood up and walked silently over to where Harry sat in his armchair. The moonlight was hitting her now, making her glow almost angelically to Harry's blurry eyes. She reached her hand towards his and grasped his fingers lightly. There wasn't a hint of the usual blush that accompanied any casual touching between the two of them… she was utterly serene. And it carried into her voice when she whispered to him, "I'm right here, Harry"

Something in him broke, until he was sobbing softly, clutching her hand as if though she were his only anchor. She raised her free hand and began to brush away some of his tears. His cheeks were cold.

"Harry you're freezing!" She was so worried about him that she didn't even stop to think about what she did next. Tugging at the hand she was holding, she moved him to the edge of the chair and sat in the vacated space. They were now squeezed together, and Ginny carefully pulled her fingers from his to wrap both her arms around him.

"You're too cold Harry, it's not good for you." The chill of his clothes and his skin were enough to make her shiver, but she held on to him tightly and allowed her warmth to soak into him. He was still crying- but now they were silent tears that fell from his beautiful eyes like rain. She rubbed his back in soothing circles while she leaned her face against his shoulder. "I'm here." She whispered.

After a silence that seemed to stretch on and on forever, Ginny was shocked when Harry was the first to speak. "I had another dream about him… You know- Voldemort. He was killing this family right in front of me and I couldn't stop him. It was a Mum and Dad and their little daughter. Only once he was done, they changed. Until it was MY Mum and Dad lying on the floor… I can't stand not being able to do anything to stop him! He's out there killing people and there's nothing I can do!"

"Harry you've done so much for so many people! You've helped foil Tom's plan left and right… but you can't do it all. Other people need to do their part too- this doesn't just rest on your shoulders."

His eyes were haunted when they turned to look at her, "No one ELSE dreams about him Ginny. I have this link… and I can't do anything with it but watch him murder people!"

"You've saved more lives than I can count over the years, you've done a lot more than 'watch him murder people'. If it weren't for you, Harry, everything would be so much worse!" She continued with absolute conviction, "If it weren't for you Harry- I'd be dead. Tom would have killed me years ago."

"Do you always call him Tom?" He asked after a long pause.

She nodded, and looked away from his gaze, "That's who he is to me…Voldemort is just a name he came up with… but he'll always be Tom Riddle."

A strong hand, callused from riding brooms, stroked her hair away from her face and clumsily attempted to tuck it behind her ear. She raised wide eyes to meet his gaze, and he whispered softly, "Thank you, Ginny. Thanks for listening."

She reached up slowly and grasped the hand that lingered against her cheek. "I'm always here for you Harry… I always will be."

He smiled, and looked at her…and for the first time he SAW her.

The stars had been listening after all. And they had waited for exactly the right moment to answer her.

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REVIEW PLEASE! I'd love to know what you thought!!!! =)


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